Nintendo Going Third-Party Would Be A Great Idea... Said No One That Cares About the Company.

Phil Stortzum writes, "Nintendo going third-party... For some, the thought of that is an insane concept. Then again, so was Sega leaving the hardware space. At the same time, we've seen what Sega has become in recent days, too. Regardless, this seems like a topic that is broached about on message boards, comment sections, and other places ad nauseum. When will gamers get to the point where talking about Nintendo going third-party becomes boring? Each discussion (well, let's face it, they're more like uncivilized arguments than anything) goes over the same talking points on both sides. It's like listening to modern day Democrats and Republicans here in the States. I'm just happy no one's trying to push the agenda that Nintendo was born in Kenya. (That concludes the political portion of this opinion piece.)

The fact of the matter is that Nintendo going third-party would not benefit the company, nor would it benefit gamers."

Some care about both. I personally want Nintendo to be successful as a whole. I want their games AND their consoles to be successful. I don't want them going third party because I think they do a good job at making games and a large part of that is how their hardware division operates.

I don't care about companies, I care about consumers. Nintendo making third-party will make the entire gaming industry better for consumers. The only thing Nintendo does well is intellectual properties. Im not even sure I really care tho because Nintendo never goes all out on their games. Zelda today is not what I thought Zelda would be in 14 years when I was playing OOT. Not saying they are bad just not nearly as ambitious i want them. They have to make more complex and challenging games that have more detail and attention to detail.

Sega games went downhill IMO when they went 3rd party. I'm not sure if the same would happen to Nintendo or not. I personally believe Nintendo could increase their games sales by 2x or more by going TP. Just look how well Darksiders did and that was just a Zelda clone. Nintendo's hardware is currently holding back the sales potential of their console games for sure. However, I would like to see Nintendo stick with hardware because I have always been a fan and I want to relive the 80s personally, but that is just me. The good old days of 8 bit games and Walkmans. Yes technology is a lot better these days, but not nearly as fun.

Given that Nintendo makes high quality games that sells gangbusters, I believe they will raise the bar of the standard of quality & give EA, Activision, Ubisoft, SquareEnix, big and small 3rd party developers etc. a run for their money on all platforms will actually be good for not just Nintendo but the whole industry overall.

This is the right kind of competition & change the industry needs. Nintendo is limiting the power of their great software by their own hardware.

Why? At least insofar Wii U, if it has no or minuscule 3rd party support, making every major game a Nintendo Exclusive, and can't profit on hardware, then it would make sense to appeal to a larger fan base by utilizing a larger market such as other consoles/PC.

Whether it would makes sense to go 3rd party in the short or long term is a matter of numbers. Would they make more money releasing multiplatforms given the reduced profit from each game sold (license fees, increased dev costs, etc.) than they would by remaining exclusive, possible (or probably) selling less copies (they could gimp all versions aside from Wii Us depending), all in consideration of should they choose to release a new console after Wii U, whether having released games on other consoles would result in less people choosing to buy a subsequent nintendo console.

If they went 3rd party going forward, then it's just whether their games can compete well and dominate in the vast gaming market or if their niche and exclusivity formed a significant part of their appeal. Maybe Mario Kart Wii wouldn't have sold as well if it was released everywhere. Who knows.

I for one would love Mario Kart on PS4 but if the online was lacking what would be the point? PS4/Xone owners don't exactly have their friends over to play split screen very often and have very high online standards. Zelda and Metroid would be awesome but I couldn't say the Witcher/Mass Effect were worse nor Halo, Destiny, or the Division.

Truth is, while Nintendo releases some very good, and sometimes great games, if they were hands down the best games out there, Wii U would be doing really well. So would have Gamecube.

MS, Sony, and PC all have great exclusives, Nintendo has fond childhood memories, which is a fast dwindling resource in gamer mind share.

Ninty, (which I always secretly root for but never buy) needs to adapt or die.

Nintendo games are still consistently well rated by fans and critics alike. They don't need to adapt at all in terms of software development. They just need to make smarter business decisions with third parties and marketing.

The Wii-U isn't doing well because of poor advertising and software droughts, the console itself and the list of exclusives it has are all great and they just need to focus on upping their online services & marketing. Also the Gamecube was profitable.

I think it would be best for everyone if Nintendo went third party. The reason I have is this.

Nintendo has made 5 of my top 20 favorite games of all time and many more classics I love. All these games were released on inferior hardware. If Nintendo were to make those games on better hardware, they have the possibility to be even better.

Do what you do best Nintendo, make games. Let these other guys worry about the hardware stuff.

Hardware shouldn't affect your ability to enjoy a game, if it does then you most likely don't enjoy gaming to it's fullest. The only people who truly care about specs are PC gamers who have unrealistic standards for gaming and fanboys of another console who tend to be hypocritical or have no idea what they are really talking about.

If Nintendo made 5 of your favorite games of all time and have other games you enjoy it shouldn't matter what their hardware is, the fact you are having fun and enjoying the game is what matters.

If Nintendo decides to stop hardware (even though they have said multiple times if they do they would stop making games) then the gaming industry would lose something truly special. Nintendo has always been a neutral platform. Going all the way back to the NES there has always been something for everyone, kids, adults, families, casuals. The same thing applies to the WiiU. Nintendo also holds their 1st party titles to a very high standard, they refuse to release a game without it being the best it can possibly be and have an old fashion business style of wanting to make their community happy. That's why their games sell tens of millions of copies and typically always become undisputed best sellers. Sony/MS have always targeted a more hardocre gaming scene from teens to adults with some things for everyone thrown in but focus more on making shareholders and people who could care less about games happy than their communities. They hold their games to a high standard too but tend to jump to changes people don't want for the sake of bussiness. The three companies create a balance where Nintendo always tries to push new ways of gaming and a console for everyone, Sony/MS try to have a more focused console.

The power of hardware does not intrinsically determine development methods. You wouldn't get a "better game" just because of a more powerful console. It might be prettier, but worst-case scenario, you'd have the console manufacturers trying to change Mario in very BAD ways, if Nintendo were a third party. That's a common problem with a lot of indies that get snatched up by bigger entities, too; they aren't allowed to do what they want. Instead, they're told "No, you can't do that. Look at these games that are selling. Do something like that." Nintendo's games are as great as you remember them because Nintendo has had full development control over them and has systems that they themselves know best because they DEVELOPED them. Third party is not the answer. Never will be.

@incendy35 what you said makes no sense you stated 5 of your best games of alltime was on a nintendo console...so how would that be "inferior" ..if that was the case wasn't the hardware you enjoyed them games on good enough for you to enjoy them?if it was on another console what makes you think it would be better ......that's like saying if mario 3d world was on ps4 it would be better why? Because it's more powerful? Nintendo games are made specifically for nintendo hardware .....you can have the best graphics ...but if the developer or the gameplay sucks it's useless the power ...just saying ...I always say I'm a gamer that enjoys all games on all systems ....I'm not going be a person to not buy a game because it's on a certain system that's stupid ....I keep hearing excuses from all fanboys example "I'm not buying mario kart because it's on nintendo or it's inferior hardware or I'm not buying titanfall because it's on Xbox or I'm not buying infamous because it's on playstation ..that is just silly the purpose of buying a video game system is to enjoy the games and have fun ...not some fanboy wishing one of the big three fails ..that's stupid just saying

Nintendo spends X dollars developing a new platform and hopes to make X + Y. Then they have to spend X developing games for their platform, a narrow focus, and hope to make X + Y.

Or

Nintendo could spend X developing games for other platforms, getting maximum exposure, and hope to make X + Y.

In the second scenario all of the cost of a new platform is gone. Everything is funneled directly into the development of titles which would be available on multiple platforms as opposed to one. This not only increases their potential sales but it lowers their initial cost.

Further, no other part of their business suffers as a result. Any other ventures, marketing, or licensing the company wishes to pursue would still be wide open.

That's very true, if you ignore the article entirely, put your hands over your eyes and ears and go "I'm not listening! I'm not listening!"

Instead of presenting a counterargument, all you have said is "there's no reason why Nintendo shouldn't go third-party because I basically ignored every argument Phil made because I said so." Why not actually, y'know, present an actual argument instead of posting something that is practically worthless towards discussion?

Developing for other platforms would not only require Nintendo to give up any hardware sales they'd make[and that's a LARGE part of their profit margins, if you look at history], they'd also be forced to pay fees to get their games onto those other consoles, on top of having to get through the complicated process of learning how these other consoles work before they could produce anything decent.

Then you've also got the fact that a large majority of gamers from these other consoles LOOK DOWN ON NINTENDO GAMES AS KIDDY REHASHES.

Don't believe me? Try proving there's a majority out there that would choose Mario 3D World on those other consoles when there's three or four other games like Destiny or The Witcher 3 to worry their wallets over.

If you think Nintendo games would sell to those people, which vastly outnumber players who don't look down on Nintendo's games at this moment thanks to all the console wars BS, then you're nucking futs.[sales of the console itself, which is waaaaay cheaper overall, additional expenses included, than the competition, prove that these guys don't care enough about the games to support their makers]

They'd make less money trying to sell just games to people who obviously don't like Nintendo's style, than they would by trying to stay loyal to their own fanbase, by keeping the Wii U going and improving upon their flawed decisions with the system's advertisement and a few of its internal features, which would in turn cause the install base to grow more rapidly.

On top of that, it devalues their brand names, which is the same reason why you don't see Sony loaning out rights to Infamous or Microsoft plunking down a license to Halo games. Nintendo titles are as good as they are because they're exclusive to Nintendo consoles, and developed by[or quality-controlled by] Nintendo teams, without the say-so of another console manufacturer trying to readjust or change how they are developed. They're Nintendo's best money-makers, and even though they don't always sell in the multi-millions, they have generally been the reason, alongside hardware, that Nintendo has existed for over a hundred years.

If you want to find a solid reason why Nintendo should go third party, you'll first need to come up with a reason to go third party that applies to all three console manufacturers. One they'd accept and use as an excuse to give up exclusivity rights to their first-party franchises.

That's right; you'd need to convince both Sony and Micro to go full out third party as well, with all of their games, to even have a chance of convincing Nintendo it's smart to do the same.

Do you honestly think they haven't thought about it? They said no numurous times, so NO, in fact, as much as I would like it to be, going third party is NOT a good idea. They'd only make a short term profit.

I feel the majority of people who think Nintendo going third-party would be a good idea are only saying so for very selfish reasons and only interest them and aren't beneficial for Nintendo if one thinks about the scenario for more than five seconds.

The problem with them going 3rd party is that while all those people who want their games on their system of choice is good for them. There is other issues aswell more important ones then having nintendo games on your PS4, nintendo would need to lay off people working within their hardware division. Due to no longer needing these worker to manufacture their hardware, other manufacturing divisions would be effected aswell, they would no longer need to by components from external companies so in the grand scheme of things nintendo going third party would benifit no one. except selfish gamers who consider themselve's more important than the people mentioned above. After all nintendo does privide more than games they provide employment for people, aswell as economic stimulus for companies that provide component's for their hardware/consoles.

Yeah i read the headline but did'nt actually read your article but am sure it was well written and insightful but i really hate suggestions of nintendo going third party and i do realise yo were not advocating that they should go third party. As i deduced that from reading the headline/title :)

I've bought Nintendo consoles, I will buy the Wii U eventually most likely. But what is wrong about wanting to play all of your games in one place on one console? I know it will never happen and it wouldn't be as beneficial for Nintendo and others as some think, but its just a nice idea.

I hope Nintendo never quits the console business. If they did, there would be no one pushing "new ways to play". I think the gaming world would become stale and dry like a desert wasteland. I actually enjoy having multiple consoles that are different. You know, for fun.

If Nintendo were to go 3rd party gaming wouldn't feel the same just take Sega for example they games got worse once they went 3rd party, playing Zelda on a PlayStation console it will feel like Skyrim playing Metroid on Xbox it will feel like Halo, Nintendo may not be perfect but they do make great games.